Sunday, May 22, 2005 CE

I was surfing the web for news as I always do when I saw something the I forund very hard to believe. There is a man in Kentucky, USA, who has invested 25 million dollars in the construction of a museum dedicated to creationism. In this museum, we will be able to appreciate the “evidence” that the Earth is 6000 years old, that it was created in 6 days, that humans coexisted with dinosaurs and that the Grand Canyon was formed in a couple of days.

It is said that people can do whatever they want with their own money. However, this money could have been better spent in activities like real scientific research or promotion of human rights (just to mention 2). The concept of redistribution of wealth would not have allowed something like this to happen. It would have allocated those resources somewhere else, in the form of road maintenance or school construction (just to mention 2) through an effective taxation system. Morover, it would not have allowed a single person to accumulate the mentioned amount of money.

Would it be a waste of money if 25 million dollars was dedicated to support the "evidence" of Darwin's Evolution Museum? Or is it only a waste of money because it may support the theory of God's creation?

What is your idea of "redistribution of wealth"? Does this mean that you see Government - as a knight in shinning armor. Do you believe that the government - the largest corporation in the country - should step into the capitalistic fray and bring equality to everyone's wealth? Shall we morph government into a sort of "Robin Hood" - a all-powerful entity that taxes the rich in order to feed the poor. This is what I believe is commonly referred to as "Redistribution of Wealth".

First of all, you cannot place Evolution at the same level of Creationism. One is a respectable scientific theory and the other one is a respectable belief. If we decide to educate our community we cannot brainwash it with a belief, we have to show facts. Beliefs are personal. Here is an example. If you have a bone that is 2 million years old...would you hide that fact and tell people that is 3000 years old just to fit a belief? or would you tell the truth? If you want to believe it is 3000 years old, it is your own business. Science is the exact opposite to faith. The scientific method does not let faith play a role in the discovery of truth.

About redistribution of wealth... Of course!! The government has to act to bring more equality. Who else is going to do it? The natural selfishness of human beings has to be controlled, and the government (the state), through the laws, the taxes, the social security is the only one that can achieve it. There is different levels of redistribution of wealth. Sweden is very socialist, the US is very capitalist.

Two comments actually:1) In Carl Sagan's book Contact, he mentions a museum very much like this... life imitating art?

2)25 million dollars wasted. But was it? He paid builders and carpeters and all sorts of tradesmen and bought the land and... I call that money redistributed, not wasted. Perhaps the recipients will use it to a different end?